Saturday, November 23, 2013

Vancouver Coastal Health and BC Housing are conducting review on PHS Community Services

The community agency that runs Canada's only safe-injection site,
as well as numerous housing projects and social enterprises for
troubled residents of the Downtown Eastside, is now having its finances
audited by both of its two major government funders.

Vancouver Coastal Health
confirmed to The Globe and Mail this week that PHS Community Services,
commonly known in the city as the Portland, is being audited to
determine "whether PHS has the financial capacity to provide the
services to clients it is contracted for."

The agency has agreements worth $8.5-million from the regional health authority
through 19 contracts. News of the health authority audit follows
confirmation two weeks ago that BC Housing is also conducting a
financial review of the Portland's finances.

It's a troubling
development for the 20-year-old organization, renowned for the scope of
its services in the Downtown Eastside that go far beyond what other
housing non-profits do.

PHS runs the city's main
supervised-injection site, Insite, the Pigeon Park credit union, a
health clinic, half a dozen social enterprises ranging from a laundry to
honey-making and chocolate-making operations and 950 units of housing
spread out among 16 sites for some of the most difficult-to-house people
in the city.

Its founders, Mark Townsend and Liz Evans, have won
awards for their work and attracted the attention of national
politicians and international celebrities, most recently English
superstar comedian and commentator Russell Brand, who visited Insite
earlier this fall.

They're also legendary for being willing to go to the wall in public campaigns for programs and services,
sometimes fighting with their own funders. The group started the
lawsuit against the federal government to keep the city's
supervised-injection site open, eventually winning the case.

But
the financial operations for this complex empire have always been a
subject of mystery and interest to those in the Downtown Eastside world.

PHS's
filings to Revenue Canada, required for charities, indicate it owns
$58-million worth of property. Those filings also indicate it paid six
people in its organization between $120,000 and $160,000 last year, and
another four between $80,000 and $120,000 – significantly more than any
of the other big housing non-profits that operate in the Downtown
Eastside.

[I KNOW OF NO OTHER PEOPLE IN THE ADDICTIONS RECOVERY OR TREATMENT BUSINESS WHO ENJOY THESE KINDS OF REWARDS OR MANAGE PROPERTY PORTFOLIOS THIS EXTENSIVE. THERE IS MUCH MORE TO COME ON THIS STORY. David Berner]

Mr. Townsend, BC Housing and the health authority have
all avoided commenting on the specifics of the audit and financial
review.

"In the case of PHS, we also understand they have faced
some recent financial challenges, so this has given us additional reason
to pursue that line of inquiry," Vancouver Coastal Health said in a
statement to The Globe and Mail.

There are no court records indicating that PHS has unpaid creditors asking for money.

Mr. Townsend said PHS is working with both groups of financial reviewers to see what can be improved.
"We provide a lot of cost-efficient, effective services but that doesn't mean we can't do better."

Asked
about the number of high salaries, he said that the group's global
administration fee, as set by its funders, is nine per cent and PHS has
stayed within that.

He said PHS employs a number of professionals – doctors, psychiatrists and others – whose services cost a lot.

He also emphasized the agency has a proven track record of service in the city.

"We've
been operating for 20 years. In that time, we've provided important
services for a group of difficult people, all within a context of a
challenging financial framework."

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Kootenay-Columbia MP David Wilks registered his opposition to
safe injection sites during a debate in the House of Commons last week.

Last week, the House was discussing second reading of a bill proposed
by the Conservative government called the Respect For Communities Act.

If passed, the act will amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
to give government greater control over when and where safe injection
sites are approved.

"The Respect For Communities Act came about as a result of
communities across Canada enquiring about safe injection sites," MP
Wilks told the Townsman on Tuesday.

The Insite supervised injection site in Vancouver has been operating
for a decade, as a safe place where people inject drugs and connect to
health care services – from primary care to treat disease and infection,
to addiction counselling and treatment, to housing and community
supports.

"Insite has been operating in Vancouver for just over 10 years, and
other communities have been enquiring," said MP Wilks. "But there is no
regulation or policy with regard to how that would be from the
perspective of public consultation and all of the other aspects that
come with it. This act was brought forward to deal with those
questions."

In the House of Commons on November 4, Wilks spoke up in favour of
the Respect For Communities Act, and against supervised injection sites.

"Canadian families expect and deserve safe and healthy communities in
which to live and work. That is why our government has consistently
delivered the tools needed for all parties to contribute to keeping our
streets and communities safe," he began.

"All controlled substances have the potential to be abused. That is
why they are called controlled substances. However, the risks are
increased when those substances are unregulated and untested and are
bought on the street, as illegal drugs often are.

"For this reason, our government is recommending amendments to the
act, through the bill currently before the House, that would strengthen
the legislation and better protect Canadian families and communities."

The Respect For Communities Act came about after a 2011 Supreme Court
decision that found safe injection sites legal when approved, and
identified criteria that should be considered in approving sites, such
as local conditions that indicate a need for the site, community support
or opposition, and its impact on crime rates.

"These drugs are inherently dangerous. They are illegal for a reason.
We know that the proceeds from the sale of these substances contribute
to organized crime and make our streets and communities less safe,"
Wilks said in the House.

"It is easy to lose sight of what we are talking about. I can tell
members, from personal experience in my former career as a police
officer, that heroin is, without a doubt, one of the most addictive
drugs known. It is physically and psychologically addictive. It is one
of the worst, if not the worst, drugs to come off of. Think about the
worst days and times anyone in this place has had, and multiply it by
100. People addicted to this drug will do anything for their next fix,
including, but not limited to, shoplifting, robbery, break and enter,
assault, and many other Criminal Code offences.

"I urge all members of this House to stand and support the Respect
For Communities Act and help give Canadian families safe and healthy
communities in which to raise their children."

In response, NDP MP Libby Davies for Vancouver East asked Wilks if he
would support a supervised injection facility in his community.

"I personally would not support any safe injection site anywhere in Canada," he responded.

Speaking to the Townsman on Tuesday, Wilks went over the debate and why he has taken this position.

"My issue with safe injection sites is that most of these people have
underlying issues that need to be dealt with and we need to find ways
of having more recovery houses and those types of opportunities for
these people," he said.

"We shouldn't be promoting or condoning the use of an illegal drug
that in my opinion is one of the worst drugs known. It's a nasty drug;
there's no other way of putting it."

The focus should instead be on treatment for addictions, he went on.

"We need treatment facilities, we need recovery centres, we need more
mental health facilities. That's the larger issue of that type of
scenario," said Wilks.

The Respect For Communities Act is at second reading now. If passed,
it will go to a committee, then returned for third reading. If passed,
it will go to the Senate for approval.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Heroin Prescription Lawsuit Challenges Closure Of Federal Exemption

VANCOUVER - A constitutional court challenge has been launched over
the federal government's decision to prevent doctors from prescribing
heroin to addicts.

Providence Health Care, which operates St.
Paul's Hospital in downtown Vancouver, says its lawsuit involves five
patients who have been part of a clinical trial known as SALOME
(sah-LOH-may).
The SALOME trial examined a specific form of
prescription heroin and operated under a federal exemption, but patients
who left the trial are no longer covered under that exemption.

Doctors
in Vancouver had obtained federal approval to prescribe the heroin to
21 patients who left the trial, but last month Health Minister Rona
Ambrose introduced new regulations to close what she described as a
"loophole" that allowed the drug to be dispensed.

Dianne Doyle,
CEO of Providence Health Care, says the patients are extremely
vulnerable and haven't benefited from other treatments such as
methadone.

The lawsuit alleges the new federal regulations violate
the patients' charter rights and it is asking the B.C. Supreme Court to
throw out the revised federal rules.

Endorsement

"All treatment centres in B.C. should get involved and support the Drug Prevention Network. As one collective voice we need to send the message that treatment works and it saves lives. There are recovery houses, treatment centers, private, government funded, long term, short term, detox, therapeutic communities etc. Let's help support prevention and help educate the public."